Hello to countdown. I am mark barton. I am anna edwards. Are standingorters by across the world, ready to deliver stories that will drive your day. Stop worst up, manus cranny is live from westminster. The ecb latest Rate Decision is due out later today. Up, manus cranny is from westminster. The ecb latest Rate Decision is due out later today. The European Business correspondent hide caroline de. The u. K. Counselor will deliver a statement later today. U. K. Mes at a time when the is the bestperforming economy. Manus cranny joins us. He will be delivering the autumn statement. The background that is improving. Is it cold where you are . [laughter] it is a bit snippy nippy. Georgeocus on what that theater of politics will happen in parliament behind me. Mr. Cameron was in china. Is aboutring today politics. It is about economics. It is but the middle class and democratization. You have got manufacturing and carney talking about the recovery here. Get later on today. These are quite significant. Existence. Belong in this would be the first time they have upgraded their outlook. What are we expecting . Well, it is going to be we are expecting the largest upgrade in the millennium. We are warned the job is far from done. And will say this year, 20132014, they are expected to. Ouble what is significant is Going Forward into 20142015. We have a rate of 2. 5 as the estimate. That is nowhere near what the bank of england believes will happen. Austerity tomore come, as we understand. There could be a kind of 1 on gdp. These upgrades are critically and reduction of the deficit. He would reduce the deficit by 10 . The hope is he can do more on that. Have a lot of married couples and Free School Meals for kids. Of course, the tapering with energy what will the impact be . [laughter] we would not want you to be chilly. That was manus cranny live from westminster. We will bring you a speech osbornes speech live. The ecb will publish its decision following last months surprise rate cut. Focus will be on mario draghi. Here witherro is details. It is hard to follow manus cranny. [laughter] lets talk about these forecast. A reason many people thought they would cut a rate this month and not last month. The rate cut would come with the company forecast. What we will get is something as bright as the u. K. s forecast. They currently predict one percent growth for next year at inflation is at 1. 3 . That is well below the 2 target. It is important. It might sound a long way off. We know that dally on swift guidance dalliance on guidance you might get some color on that. And deflation, is that justified . We had had a bit of a kick up. If you look at october numbers, inflation was below that of japans. The about deflation across eurozone. Pace month onwer month. Down from country to country. For the month about cobra, cyprus prices in greece, and fly in other countries. For the month of october, falling prices in greece, cyprus, and falling in other countries. And fly in other countries. Flat in cash and other countries. It is not a bad thing. Actually, look at it. Goes prices will be cheaper tomorrow, why buy today . There is always tomorrow. It is divergent within the ecb itself. Mark barton. They expect a repeat of that surprise rate cut. Dont rule anything out. Thank you. We will watch the ecb later. At decision block be live london time that decision will be london time. Statement will be followed by that bank of england Rate Decision later today london time. Apple and china mobile are close deal. Ing a they will offer iphones on its network. We have a correspondent standing by in hong kong. Why does the 4g make will not make such a difference . Make said well make such a difference . There are millions of potential customers. That is a huge number of customers. There are many wireless subscribers over all. In the game. Ate we know in places like the u. S. , 4g has been rolled out. It is big news today for china mobile. Received this network license, along with smaller rivals. Mobile shares have been up in the hong kong session. It has been under a bit of pressure to date. There is a trend lower for some markets. China mobile will offer iphones as early as december 18 when it is set to unveil its branding for the 4g network. Spokesman said talks for the apple iphone deal is ongoing. We will follow that angle of the story. This is big news. Mobile carriers in china try to get customers to migrate to a and data plan. It has been hugely positive today for the online content creation company. Like an Internet Companies like baidu. The rollout in 4g will benefit in many areas in the industry. Thank you. And branching into europe. It is a company that is part of a group. Caroline hyde went to take a look at the brandnew store to officer chief executive of the american retailer. What was the store like . Very shiny and new of course. It opens this or is today at 8 30 a. M. A later today at 8 30 a. M. It is a plethora of stores operating offering new homework. You have got popup installations. Fantastic. Christmas decorations, obviously. It is huge. They have a plan as part of its decoration. As part of its decoration. Actually. Xy i wanted nearly everything. They had syrup as well. What is interesting is another company wanting to move into europe and using london as a hub to do it. It is a gateway to all of europe. We are here. Launch a store and looking for other locations for branch. We will support all of our brands with fully integrated e commerce. Penetration online. Yes. The way we have grown all of our we have aamerica is very large ecommerce business. To 50 of our sails. A big deal. It is very instructive. It shows you where the customers are. Know wheree will you might want to have the next are based on the amount of customers that are there. And next in europe . We are looking all over the place for locations. We want to go in london with our other brands first. You have con down now that you have left the store. Calmed down now that you have left the store. Caroline comment thank you. Secretary john kerry is back in israel. Elliott is keeping an eye on things. That is right. It is an issue that is dear to in theis heart context of signing any permanent its. Ith the listing secretary john kerry arrayed arrived last night. Later on he will meet with the minister. N security is one of the topics on the agenda. That netanyahus displeasure with the recent deal iran and then world powers regarding its nuclear programs, one might i, as well. Elliott, thank you very much. George osborne is our next guest. There could be a big mistake. Time for todays company news. Apple and china mobile close to signing a deal. Journal haseet reported that they will offer the iphone. Airbus plans to boost the seat account on one of their jets. It is also up and maintenance help with the value of its aircraft. An airway flagged a record loss. Lian dollar version attempts to take market by selling stock to investors. Gin attempts to take market share by selling stock to investors. I am anna edwards. I am mark barton. George Osborne Smith says osborne would be wrong to hint. How have things changed since facingt budget we were in the triple dip recession . He was facing it from all quarters, wasnt he . On the sturdy, six months later he will. He will be able they can book growth forecast for double the he can growth forecast for this year. It is the growth they wanted. It is over and a key relative p aquila just accumulative period. We have had some hint. They have taken the lead on that. It would help in the background here at it would help in the background. It used to be a big secret. Auto statements. Autumn statements. Back. W that he will hold they will cut budgets and spending. Update us on the deck a picture. Debt picture. The whole market has been austerity. The economy recovers. Higher gross numbers coming through. Give us the next donation of why that is happening. Still running a budget deficit. The debt is stillx rising. Still 10 . Background, they will wish that further into the future and into future generations. It is important that he keeps target. Secure better budget numbers. See do not want f u7 to unbalanced growth. You say you should not be tempted with giveaways . These autumn statements used to be boring. These are the latest forecast. Thank you very much. It is an opportunity for them to put some out there. Married couples and things like meals some of that will be in there to create nice headlines. At what junction will wages start to rise even close to inflation . What junction will the gap between inflation and wages really start to narrow . Tough one. A real when you look at the forecast willin march, they said it happen next year. Even on that, they would have to revise. I think that will still be a tough call. The labor markets performed well. It is hard to push wages to that level. Without the real wage growth and the headline growth, that is a challenge really. The bank of england meets today. Expecting a rate change from them . They have taken some action of the parts of the toolkit. Some people interpreted it as toning they will not have put up rates quickly. Is that your view . Exactly. But also in the Forward Guidance as well. Good. Relatively the markets got spooked. That is a dilemma that they face. That is another possible backdrop to the chancellor. A second. You in we have a surprise rate cut last month. Is expecting a surprise rate cut this month. Expecting mario draghi to latest forecast. We will way up in on that next. Welcome back to mark barton. [laughter] i am anna edwards. You can leave now. [laughter] we have talked about the u. K. Let us talk about the ecb. It will change its forecast today. I think that largely was a factor of the risk of deflation, lets say. Think the focus is naturally on the press conference. Ess liquidityexc fall. There is the preparation. That moves to rates higher. Hint. O gives us a do we get more hands of policy measures to come to get more hints of policy measures to come . Its a matter of days . Story said it was the first time in four months bearish on the euro. It still be successful . Possibly. Draghi has had a funny currency. Ip with the has been quite good in the hints and the impact on the currency. What you saw in november when we speculation of a cut , hehe middle of december supported the currency. That is not the real question. It is an issue, especially when you are seeing deflation in the periphery as a whole. The gap is the widest ever. That is an issue. A weaker currency would help. Is it time to publish minutes of the Government Council meeting . Could that come up today . Pressure cooker be put on them by the government. Pressure could be put on them by the government. Not to get the Respective National governments without lookpressure, but if you theway Central Banks ecb has pretty much not change anything. Better. As been much with ao surprise governing council that size. Thank you. 26 in london. Interview. An i am mark barton in london. Many people joined rochus in ukraine. Executives from europes biggest banks are under pressure to surrender their bonuses. Yesterday banks were fined euros for manipulating benchmark interest rates. Pusheditrust fine sanctions for ratings to 6 billion. Former fed reserve chairman alan pricesan says bitcoin are unsustainably high. It is going interest from investors. The software is not regulated by any country or banking authority. You have to really stretch infer whatation to the Intrinsic Value of bitcoin is. I have not been able to do it. Maybe someone else can. If you ask me yes. Hello. Welcome to countdown. I am mark barton. I am anna edwards. Mulberry reports numbers within the hours. It is named after fashionable celebrities. And has been struggling under in creative erector quick june. It has been struggling since creative director quit in june. Caroline hyde. Of course. There was some speculation. Vision oft like the it becoming more upmarket and more luxurious. He said, we are looking for a replacement internally and externally. They can work fine without her. They have got people on the creative team. Ostrich leather bags in 2005. Below 1000. Alexa bag. Ve the minister gave group are the g8 civilized mulberry personalized mulberry bags. The prices went up 12 at the end of last year. The expansion plans are probably eared are probably big. They are reliant on the u. K. Is looking to open in the asia. States and in it is interesting to know where those buyers are from in europe. A large number of them are from europe. They are to visitors from overseas. Theyre selling to visitors from overseas. They make for global luxury sales. The whole of china descending upon europe and buying up the paris he land and milan and paris, that is why Luxury Brands were good in europe. There is a large amount of the. Urope tourism are expecting signs of growth . Starting to. We get those numbers in less an hour. They are investing. They want to produce more bags in the united kingdom. Barclays and executives say profits will be up by the end of the year. We should be noticing what mulberry does. Herbert has 10 times the amount burberry has 10 times the amount of sales ban mulberry. Than pounds inwent up 23 2012. Now they are about 10 pounds. The 2010way off on lows . Are they still way off of lows . 2010 yes. Secretary kerry is back in israel. Elliott is keeping an eye on things. Security is one of the items on the agenda. Right. Is the secretary of state john kerry arriving late last night. He wills the shortly in the next hour perhaps. He will speak shortly in the next hour perhaps. At]ears thro excuse me. It is not abstract in the sense of the word. John allen, he will present for the kind of security arrangement that might be acceptable both to israel and palestinians in any post any final agreement. Israel wants to maintain a presence with the palestinians. The palestinian says that is a dealbreaker to have is really israeli troops. They will present ideas to and later to the palestinian prime minister. Secretary kerry will be key to focus on p talks be stocks peach talks. Peace talks. Yes. One imagines it will be hard to escape that discussion. It was a historic mistake, this agreement. Ral enough, the six months period for that deal with kerry oppose deadline for an agreement between the israel, its and happened at about the same time. Have thesen theory issues being resolved at about the same time. If youre a pessimist or a realist, perhaps we will not get either of them resolved. We had yesterday the former head of israels Domestic Intelligence saying that the failure to reach a deal with the palestinians poses a greater to israel and the prospects of an Iranian Nuclear that is something that netanyahu ridiculous. Quite mainly focusing on the palestinians. Iran is sure to come up in the talks. Elliott, thank you. Coming up, the iconic muscle car gets a facelift. It is hitting the streets of europe. Details next. Time for todays company news. Companies were sued by 16 investors. There was a product that fell in value during a financial crisis. Merit. S it has no one company is expanding into europe. Easyjet will boost the fights leaving germany. Glass google is looking at robotics. It has acquired seven companies states. And the united the project will be looked over ben. Eu welcome back to countdown. I am anna edwards. I am mark barton. If you have recently been in the you might a mercedes, have noticed there are lots of options. The sedan alone comes in five. Ifferent sizes [laughter] why so many models . That is a big question. Grobart looks at this. Newith the release of its sedan, mercedesbenz now sells 13 different cars in the u. S. Everything from the luxury four coop. P to a many ago, do you know how types they sold in the u. S. . Four. Bmw have been going at it like rabbits, too. Theres a whole lot more wasetition now than there back in the 1980s. Now you got electric and hyundaisand 50,000 for crying out loud. Find as many new customers as you can. That means cutting up the market into everything. You can do that now even the massive amounts of data that have two identify new consumers. To technology, it is easy for a carmaker to look at different models using the same set of parts. Other components could be shared so each model does not require if in the olden days you have to sell 100,000 cars of a given even, now you can sell three different models at 30,000 each. Not that there are not pitfalls. Mercedes stop selling one of its models. Automakers have very curious theyre clever things you can do. It doesnt always mean you should. There. Grobart out anned to find admission. Welcome back to countdown. I am anna edwards. I am mark barton. The ford mustang is gearing up in the narrow streets of europe for the first time. Iconic american car will go on sale in the region. We are joined by the ford president. He joins us from barcelona with that latest car that will be unveiled this afternoon. Thank you for joining us. Pleasure. Good morning to you. Why has it taken 50 years for to sell the ford mustang in europe . That is a great opening question. Business people are so interested in the mustang. They imported themselves. Darwin million facebook followers in europe on the mustang there are one million facebook followers in europe on the mustang. We wanted to bring not just a version of a mustang figure, but a righthand drive as well. Was satisfied many customers in the u. K. Mustangmakes this new so special . The first thing is when you look it, you know it is a mustang. It is an iconic, american car. It is followed allover the world. It has got modern technology. The styling tells you it is a mustang. Cars a lighthouse banner for us as we rollout the 25 cars in five years in our european launch that we launched a few months ago. Launching it,ou this pony car, in a European Market . Customers right now are shying away from buying cars. Industry in its prerecession high was 80 million in western europe. 13. 5. Ly closer to we are running along a number of signs of very modest, but nonetheless, recovery. It is recovered moderately. That 13. 5 million, it has stayed broadly the same. There are still have some interest in the sports cars. It has a was been an interesting mustang. You think it is very relevant at this time and appropriate. Can you give us an idea of how many of these you expect to sell in europe . Yeah. Were not giving volume predictions at the moment. Probably later next year as we more about that details of the car am a we will then. To talk about it we know there is a great deal of interest in the car. It does not just help the brand, but the car as well. Could it become a global brand . I know your time to push it into market which is a big growth area for luxury cars. As a mustang going to become a global brand . Is the muang going to become